220MW! German Energy Giant RWE To Build Two Large Battery Energy Storage Systems

Recently, the German energy giant Rheinland Group (RWE) has finalized its investment decision for two battery energy storage systems (BESS) in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW).

With a total capacity of 220 MW, the two projects are said to use a total of 690 lithium-ion battery system blocks for the two BESS installations to be installed at RWE power plants in Neurath and Hamm in the western state bordering the Netherlands and Belgium. The new system will help stabilize the German grid and will be "virtually networked" with neighboring power plants, thereby reducing the cost of electricity.
 

The battery storage system in Hamm has a capacity of 140 MW and the system in Neurath has a capacity of 80 MW, with a total investment of about 140 million euros (1.02 billion yuan). RWE is currently working on the design, modeling, system integration and commissioning of the project and other related preparatory work, and is expected to start the formal construction phase in 2023, with a specific commissioning date of 2024.

Roger Miesen, CEO of RWE, said: "The investment decision for this project will lay a solid foundation for future projects, with a new breakthrough in terms of scale, intelligence and standardization of the project. The new battery storage system will optimize the utilization of German power plants, balance energy supply and demand, and promote the development of renewable energy."

According to foreign media reports, only 32MW of (more than 1MW) large battery energy storage projects were installed in Germany last year, and this investment in two large battery energy storage projects is the latest of many publicly available investment plans for large battery energy storage projects in Germany, which will bring new opportunities to the German market, signaling that the local energy storage market will go to a high boom with the growth of energy demand, and the German energy storage industry and overall energy system development also has great potential.

It is reported that about 200MW of energy storage projects will be officially commissioned in Germany in 2022. In addition, projects such as the 250MW Grid Booster provided by RWE and Fluence for the transmission system operator TransnetBW will greatly improve Germany's resource flexibility and advance the achievement of local renewable energy goals after operation.

The RWE Group has developed into Germany's largest energy provider and an advanced international infrastructure service provider. The RWE Group currently has 150MW/160MWh of projects in operation and 800MW/1800MWh of projects under construction worldwide, with the goal of deploying 3GW energy storage systems by 2030.